George Nicholson Student Paper Competition

Deadline: June 2, 2025

2024 - Winner(s)

2024 Winner(s)

Purpose of the Award

Committee Co-Chairs

Xinyun Chen
The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen

Wolfram Wiesemann
Imperial College of London

Click here for committee information.

The George Nicholson Student Paper competition is held each year to identify and honor outstanding papers in the field of operations research and the management sciences written by a student.

Prizes will be awarded and finalists will be invited to present their papers at the INFORMS Annual Meeting.

Application Process

2025 Submission Deadline: June 2, 2025

This competition is held each year to identify and honor outstanding papers in the field of operations research and the management sciences written by a student.

Click here to learn more about the application process.

About the Award/Namesake

George Nicholson, Jr. received his M.A, degree in mathematics from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina in 1941.While he was an Operations Analyst with the XXI Bomber Command in the Pacific during WWII, he received the Medal of Freedom. In 1965, he was awarded the Defense Department's Exceptional Civilian Service Medal for his work a special consultant to the Air Force and as a U.S. advisor on NATO matters from the Under Secretary of the Air Force.

Learn more about George Nicholson

Past Awardees

2024
Winner(s)
Angela Kohlenberg, Northwestern University
Second Place
Aras Selvi, Imperial College
Finalist
Boris Epstein, Columbia Business School
Jingye Xu, Georgia Tech
Zaile Li, Fudan University
Zikai Xiong, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Honorable Mention
Mohamad Sadegh Shirani Faradonbeh, Stanford University
Shuvomoy Das Gupta, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2023
Winner(s)
Yunbei Xu, Columbia University
Second Place
Xingyu Wang, Northwestern University
Finalist
Akshit Kumar
Bahar Taskesen, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne
Daan Rutten, Georgia Institute of Technology
Haofeng Zhang
2022
Winner(s)
Team Name: Ziv Scully and Isaac Grosof
Ziv Scully and Isaac Grosof
2021
Winner(s)
Shi Dong, Stanford University
Runner-Up
Yatharth Dubey, Georgia Institute of Technology
2020
First Place
Jean Pauphilet, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Ryan Cory-Wright , Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Second Place
Omar El Housni, Columbia University
Honorable Mention
Ahmadreza Momeni, Stanford University
Yi-Chun Chen, UCLA Anderson School of Management
Yunzong Xu, MIT
2019
Winner(s)
Yilun Chen, Cornell University
2018
First Place
Viet Anh Nguyen, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
2017
First Place
Andrew Li, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Second Place
Bradley Sturt, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Finalist
Daniel Freund, Cornell University
Erhun Ozkan, University of Southern California
Will Ma, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Zhengyuan Zhou, Stanford University
Zhi Chen, National University of Singapore
Honorable Mention
Weijun Xie, Virginia Tech
2016
First Place
Hamsa Bastani, University of Pennsylvania
Second Place
Mehdi Behroozi, University of Minnesota
Finalist
Ali Aouad, MIT
Martin Zubeldia, MIT
Rajan Udwani, MIT
Rui Gao, UT Austin
Honorable Mention
Yun Zeng, The Ohio State University
2015
First Place
Linwei Xin, University of Chicago
Second Place
Ruoyu Sun, University of Minnesota
Finalist
Antoine Desir, Columbia University
Brian Y. Lu, Columbia University
Can Zhang, Georgia Institute of Technology
Chun Ye, Columbia University
Wang-Chi Cheung, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Honorable Mention
Xiaoshan Peng, University of Chicago
2014
First Place
Daniel Russo, Stanford University
Second Place
Tonghoon Suk, Georgia Institute of Technology
Finalist
Antoine Desir, Columbia University
Bart Paul Gerard Van Parys, ETH Zurich
Joel Goh, Harvard Business School
Santiago Balseiro, Columbia University
Honorable Mention
James M. Davis, Rutgers
2013
First Place
Ruiwei Jiang, University of Florida
Second Place
Ian Post, University of Waterloo
Finalist
Chang-han Rhee, Stanford University
Hyung-Chan An, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
Nathan Kallus, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Ozan Candogan, Booth School of Business, University of Chicago
Vishal Gupta, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Honorable Mention
Gustavo Angulo, Georgia Institute of Technology
Yonatan Gur, Columbia University
2012
First Place
Minjiao Zhang, Ohio State University
Finalist
Chaithanya Bandi, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Emre Nadar, Bilkent University
Nataly Youssef, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Yu Wu, Stanford University
Yuan Zhong, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Honorable Mention
Yi-Hao Kao, Stanford University
2011
First Place
Kuang Xu, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Second Place
Yehua Wei, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Finalist
Robert L. Bray, Stanford University
Honorable Mention
Chen Chen, Columbia University
Juliane Dunkel, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Shiqian Ma, Columbia University
2010
First Place
Bo Zhang, Georgia Institute of Technology
Second Place
Anicham Kumarasamy, Stanford University
Finalist
David A. Goldberg, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Timothy Carnes, Massachusetts Inctitute of Technology
Honorable Mention
Alexander Zadorojniy, Tel-Aviv University
Henry Lam, Columbia University
Lauren A. Hannah, Duke University
2009
First Place
Cong Shi, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Second Place
James Ostrowski, Lehigh University
Finalist
Neil Walton, University of Manchester
Spyridon Schismenos, Cornell University
Theophane Weber, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Xiang Yan, Stanford University
Ye Lu, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Honorable Mention
Ilias Diakonikolas, Columbia University
Jiheng Zhang, Georgia Institute of Technology
2008
First Place
Erick Delage, Stanford University
Second Place
Guanghui Lan, Georgia Institute of Technology
Finalist
Brad Null, Stanford University
Dmitriy Katz-Rogozhnikov, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Jiheng Zhang, Georgia Institute of Technology
Tri-Dung Nguyen, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Honorable Mention
Anke van Zuylen, Cornell University
Ning Cai, Columbia University
2007
First Place
Nelson A. Uhan , Purdue University
School of Industrial Engineering
Santanu Dey, Purdue University
Finalist
Erick Delage, Stanford University
Pranava Goundan, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Honorable Mention
Amit Partani, The University of Texas at Austin
Timothy Chan, University of Toronto
2006
First Place
Josh Reed, New York University
Second Place
Alexandre Belloni, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Finalist
Hamed Mamani, University of Washington
Kiavash Kianfar, Texas A&M University
Honorable Mention
Mustafa Akan, Carnegie Mellon University
Stephen Shum, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2005
First Place
Emre Erdogan, Columbia University
Second Place
David B. Brown, Duke University
Wai Kin (Victor) Chan, University of California - Berkeley
Honorable Mention
Muhong Zhang, University of California - Berkeley
Zhaosong Lu, Georgia Institute of Technology
2004
First Place
Yuval Nov, Stanford University
Second Place
Melvyn Sim, National University of Singapore
Honorable Mention
Ali K. Parlakturk, Stanford University
2003
First Place
Aurélie Thiele, Southern Methodist University
Ramesh Johari, Stanford University
Second Place
Sanne Vincent de Boer, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Honorable Mention
Karthik Natarajan, Singapore MIT Alliance, National University of Singapore
Victor Martinez de Albeniz, IESE
2002
First Place
Savas Dayanik, Columbia University
Second Place
Melvyn Sim, National University of Singapore
Honorable Mention
Xin Chen, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Xuanming Su, University of California - Berkeley, Haas School of Business
2001
First Place
Alp Muharremoglu, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Second Place
Gustavo Vulcano, Columbia University
Sanjeeb Dash, Princeton University
Teresa H. Chu, University of Michigan
Honorable Mention
Nam Kyoo Boots, Vrije University
2000
First Place
Erica Plambeck, Stanford University
Second Place
Marina Epelman, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Honorable Mention
Jay Sethuraman, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1999
First Place
Bertrand Guenin, Georgia Institute of Technology
Constantinos Maglaras, Columbia University
Honorable Mention
Wen Zhao, University of Pennsylvania
1998
First Place
Tito Homem-de-Mello
Second Place
Lisa Fleischer
Honorable Mention
Pinar Keskinocak, Georgia Institute of Technology, School of Industrial/Systems Engineering
1997
First Place
Stefanos A. Zenios, Stanford University
Second Place
Ioannis Paschalidis, Boston University
1996
First Place
Jayashankar M. Swaminathan, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Second Place
Georgia Mourtzinou, Operations Research Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1995
First Place
Noah Gans, University of Pennsylvania
1994
First Place
David P. Morton, Stanford University
Second Place
Julie Bowers Lassiter, Clemson University
1993
First Place
Athanassios N. Avramidis, School of Industrial Engineering, Purdue University
1992
First Place
Julien Bramel, School of Engineering and Applied Science
Columbia University
Second Place
Marvin K. Nakayama, Operations Research Department
Stanford University
1991
First Place
Vien Nguyen, Stanford University
Second Place
Kalyan T. Talluri, Imperial College Business School
1990
First Place
Perwez Shahabuddin, Department of Operations Research
Stanford University
Second Place
Michel X. Goemans, Operations Research Center
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1989
First Place
Dimitris J. Bertsimas , Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management and Operations Research Center
Second Place
Paul Glasserman, Columbia University
1988
First Place
Arthur T. Benjamin, Dept. of Mathematical Sciences, Johns Hopkins University
Second Place
Lawrence M. Wein, Stanford University, Graduate School of Business
1987
First Place
Karl Sigman, SORIE, Cornell University
Second Place
Michael A. Trick, Carnegie Mellon University, Tepper School of Business
1986
First Place
In-Soo Lee, Anderson Graduate School of Management, UCLA
Second Place
Sanjay Mehrotra, Columbia University, IEOR Dept.
1985
First Place
Wallace J. Hopp, Dept. of Industrial and Operations Engineering
University of Michigan
Second Place
Paul Tseng, Operation Research Center
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1984
First Place
Robin O. Roundy, Brigham Young University
Second Place
Michael Schneider, Northwestern University
1983
First Place
David D. W. Yao, Dept. of Industrial Engineering, University of Toronto
Second Place
Patrick T. Harker, Dept. of Civil and Urban Engineering
University of Pennsylvania
1982
First Place
K. Sridhar Moorthy, Stanford Business School
Second Place
Uday Apte, The Wharton School
University of Pennsylvania
1981
First Place
H. L. Ong, University of Waterloo
Second Place
Mostafa H. Ammar, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1980
First Place
Robert C. Leachman, University of California - Berkeley
Second Place
Gur Huberman, Yale School of Organization and Management
1979
First Place
T. S. Wee, Dept. of Management Science
University of Waterloo
Second Place
R. Jaikumar, Wharton School
University of Pennsylvania
1978
First Place
James B. Orlin, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
John J. Bartholdi, Georgia Institute of Technology
Second Place
Paul Dixon, Dept. of Management Sciences
University of Waterloo
1977
First Place
Paul H. Zipkin, Duke University, Fuqua School of Business
Second Place
Osman Oguz, University of Waterloo
1976
First Place
Peter Orkenyi, Stanford University
Second Place
M. A. Greene, Carnegie-Mellon University
1975
First Place
Ron S. Dembo, University of Waterloo
Second Place
Richard Feldman, Northwestern University